Using Less Means More Trees, More Money, and Less Toxic Microplastic.

As we pause our constant busy pace in order to save lives, we see what a difference we can make when we all work together. Because we have disrupted many of our routines and habits, we may find it easier to change some habits permanently to help the planet still be livable by the end of this century and beyond. Using less helps the planet more.

Smog around the Los Angeles skyline used to obscure the San Gabriel Mountains.

Reducing Helps the Environment Even More than Recycling Does

You may already help by recycling right—rinsing out and drying a container before throwing it in the blue bin. But “recycle” comes third in our “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra because reducing and reusing help the environment even more.

Why Using Less Helps the Planet More

Reducing has the biggest impact because you lessen the demand for more resources and use less energy manufacturing and transporting products. 

Reducing:

• Saves money
• Saves energy
• Prevents pollution from harvesting and transporting raw materials
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change
• Helps the planet stay livable for our children and future grandchildren
• Lowers how much we have to recycle or send to landfills and incinerators

  While recycling helps reduce trash, of the 8.4 percent of plastic that gets recycled in the US, most is only recycled one time because the quality degrades each time it is recycled. Then it joins the rest of the plastic polluting our planet as toxic microplastics in our air, water, and earth.

Reducing Means More Trees to Clean Greenhouse Gases Out of the Air

Americans use 110 million trees just for paper towels every year.

When we reduce our use of single-use paper products, we cut down fewer trees—trees that fight global warming by turning carbon in the air into oxygen.

When we reduce our use of petroleum-based plastic water bottles, we won’t have as much plastic in our oceans and landfills that breaks down into toxic microplastics that will stay in our water and air for centuries.

It’s Easy to Use Less Right Now

Here are some easy ways to reduce that can save you hundreds of dollars a year, as well.

A shortage of single use paper products in stores is driving us to reusable options.

It’s hard to find some paper products in stores right now, so it’s a perfect time to explore other options that will save you money and waste fewer resources in the long run.

Save 80 Rolls of Paper Towels a Year

Paper towels

Replace paper towels with kitchen towels, old towels, or rags you can wash and reuse.

Americans throw away 3,000 tons of paper towels a year that come from 110 million trees. That breaks down to 80 rolls of paper towels a year per person. Think of the trees and the money you’ll save!

Paper napkins

Order dark, wrinkle- resistant cloth napkins that won’t show stains to use several times between washes.  

About 243 million Americans use between one and six packages of paper napkins a month.

Plastic water bottles

Buy a reusable bottle and water filter and drink cleaner water for less money with zero waste!

Americans purchase about 50 billion water bottles every year. That’s around 13 bottles per month for every person. By using a reusable water bottle, you can save an average of 156 plastic bottles annually, or more if you drink one or more bottles a day. Most bottled water is just tap water that leaches plastic into the water.

Food waste

Freeze food like bread and berries to use as you need them.

Two-thirds of the trash we send to landfills is organic. Right now most of us don’t want to shop at groceries more often than necessary. The further we can make our food go, the fewer times we need to go out to the store or put in an order that can take up to a week for a local store to deliver. Do more with less. Get more food tips in our article “How to Stretch Your Food While Quarantined.”

How are you reducing waste while you’re at home? Let us know and we’ll share on social media!

The 50^th anniversary of Earth Day is April 22. As we stay home to save lives, we can use our unified spirit to help save the planet, as well.

In the decades before Earth Day was founded, U.S. industry boomed with progress that included large, leaded fuel-guzzling cars and factories belching pollutants. The first Earth Day brought together everyday Americans, who called for a stop to the damage to water, air, plant life, and wildlife around them.

20 Million Americans Demanded Control over Pollution

After witnessing the aftermath of a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin organized the first Earth Day in 1970. It catalyzed the simmering environmental movement, launching it to the forefront of American consciousness.

Photo of smoggy Los Angeles courtesy of U.S. EPA

Earth Day harnessed the passion of separate groups fighting against power plants, toxic waste sites, oil spills, car emission pollution, and the loss of forests. It pushed conservation, pollution management, and environmental stewardship to national awareness. The first Earth Day celebration acted as a cultural tipping point as 20 million Americans gathered to demand real change.

Unregulated factories bellowing toxic smoke were common before the US EPA formed in 1970.

It Didn’t Happen Overnight

• Eight years earlier, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a groundbreaking book that critically examined the impact of industrialization on our planet. Carson observed that the heavy use of pesticides was killing off birds, making the forests silent. Some credit her book with jump-starting the environmental movement.
• When the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire in 1969, it spurred demand for pollution control and a Federal Clean Water Act.

In 1968, NASA’s space program photos of the earth from the Apollo 8 mission communicated the smallness and fragility of our planet when seen from the distance and vastness of space.

Congress Responds with the U.S. EPA

Real change came less than eight months after the first Earth Day in December 1970 when Congress created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tackle environmental issues. By the U.S. EPA’s tenth anniversary, Congress had passed significant legislation that laid the foundation for environmental regulation, including:

• Banning the toxic pesticide DDT
• Setting new car emissions standards and national air quality standards
• Improving water treatment facilities
• Addressing the practice of dumping chemicals into rivers and lakes

As a leader in environmental policy, California established its own laws to care for our state.

The Garbage Barge Made Us Think Seriously About Trash

In 1987 New York, like much of the country, experienced a shortage of landfill space, and local officials decided to ship 3,168 tons of trash to a North Carolina facility pilot program that would convert the trash into methane. North Carolina officials unexpectedly declined the load and the Garbage Barge, followed closely in national news coverage, continued to sail down and back up the North American coast looking for a place to unload. Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, and Belize also declined to accept it. After eight months at sea the barge returned to New York, which incinerated the trash and buried the ashes.

Finding the Best, Highest Use for Our Trash

This incident highlighted how poorly the country was managing its waste and helped usher into law California’s Integrated Waste Management Act, which established our 50 percent diversion jurisdictional requirement. The state has passed other significant legislation to recycle bottles, cans, tires, paint, motor oil, and mattresses. In 2016 a new recycling law passed to address organics waste, which makes up two-thirds of the trash sent to landfills. Reaching the law’s goals would reduce landfill methane emissions and divert 20 percent of currently disposed edible food to the one in eight Californians who don’t know where their next meal will come from.

Saving Lives and Saving the Planet from Home

Earth Day has always centered on everyday Americans taking action to create cleaner air, water, and land. We can speak out to support policy that protects the environment. But we now have awareness of steps we can take in our daily lives that will save energy, reduce pollution, support renewable resources, and allow us to continue our convenient lifestyles without destroying our future.

You can even take action to help the environment from the safety of your own home.

Do you:

• Recycle
• Use LED light bulbs
• Have energy and water efficient appliances
• Have a drought tolerant yard
• Reuse water bottles
• Compost
• Take other action to help the Earth in your own way?

Post a photo, story, or video with #HowISaveThePlanet on our social media showing how you make every day Earth Day in your home.

Follow CalRecycle and CalEPA on social media for fun virtual Earth Day activities and see Californians come together to save the planet as we stay home to save lives.

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• Look for games, at-home conservation tips, and an eco-scavenger hunt from CalEPA and its office, boards, and departments throughout April.
• Join CalEPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld for virtual coffee breaks throughout the month with special guests who will share exciting, innovative ideas and projects.
• Inspire California with your secrets to help the environment.

Use #HowISavethePlanet to share how you and your family protect our environment every day.

Use #WhyISavethePlanet to show California what inspires you to protect the Earth – including your children and favorite places in nature.

• Like and share your colleagues’ posts – and CalEPA will do the same.
• On April 22, tune into the CalEPA’s Earth Day online event for fun, informative, and inspiring moments.
• Invite your kids, friends, and community organizations to participate!
• Don’t forget to use #CalEPAEarthDay50 on all of your posts!

These last weeks have shown that we can all work together remotely to protect our health. Let’s harness this unity to make the whole planet healthier.

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